Eligibility
Age of Student
Tsukuba International School accepts students in grades 1 through 10. Students entering grade 1 must be 6 years old by December 31 of the current school year in order to be eligible for admission.
| Students born between January and December of this year… | …will be placed in this grade for September 2012 to June 2013*. |
| 2006 (age 6) | Grade 1 |
| 2005 (age 7) | Grade 2 |
| 2004 (age 8) | Grade 3 |
| 2003 (age 9) | Grade 4 |
| 2002 (age 10) | Grade 5 |
| 2001 (age 11) | Grade 6 |
| 2000 (age 12) | Grade 7 |
| 1999 (age 13) | Grade 8 |
| 1998 (age 14) | Grade 9 |
| 1997 (age 15) | Grade 10 |
*This age requirement may be waived for transfer students who have completed at least one term of school elsewhere. In that case, the grade placement will be decided as above at the time of the interview, but may be reconsidered in light of the student’s history and ability.
Student’s Knowledge of English
TIS expects students to have functional English at or near grade level. Students whose English skills are not adequate to keep up with their peers cannot be admitted. English ability is assessed during the initial interview.
Parents’ Knowledge of English
In order to honour the obligation to cooperate with the school in the child’s education, at least one of the parents should be capable of communicating with the school staff in English. Full fluency is not required, but the parent must be willing to try to communicate in English. If parents have the attitude that “English is too hard”, they will not be able to model a positive attitude towards English for their children.
Special Needs
TIS welcomes students with a wide variety of skills and abilities. However, students with special physical, academic, emotional, and/or behavioural needs will be carefully screened before admission. TIS has very limited resources to devote to children with special needs and may reject admission for any of the following reasons: the unavailability of an appropriately trained teacher, the lack of an appropriate program and curriculum adapted to the special need, the lack of appropriate facilities and equipment, the teaching load of the staff, the size of the class, and the educational dynamics of the classroom.
